Meeting Management - Agendas

For the Reader’s Information: We will be using our initials for these conversations we have so, Lynne Brown (LB) and James Latour (JL).

(JL) Now last week I said that business meetings can be fun! No, I wasn’t crazy. They truly can be and I aim to make most, if not all of my meetings just that bit lighter than the regular same old same old. Last year I managed a project locally to help teens to set up a movie theater. We had to have weekly business meetings. Now if you know teens like I know teens, same old, same old just doesn’t cut it. So I had to put variety into the meetings to keep their attention. This ranged from changing location, changing the room around, having snacks and even playing ‘games’ to keep them engaged.

This week we are going to look at agendas. Most of us are used to the agenda that goes from the top of the page down to the bottom of the page. I will talk a bit about this one. There is another type of agenda, which can be a tool to help keep people on track, the Mind Map. Lynne will address that one because she was the person who introduced it to me when I was the secretary on a committee a few years ago. When she came into the room with it, I have to say I wondered what to do with it. But as the meeting progressed it made my minute taking a real breeze.

So let’s get back to the regular agenda. First let me say that I think it is important to do three things:

1. HAVE an agenda

2. Get it out in lots of time for additions

3. Stick to it as best as you can

1. A lot of people don’t use agendas. Then they tell me as their consultant that they are accomplishing nothing at their meetings. It is so important to have an agenda at meetings as they are the road map to where you want to go; what you wish to accomplish. Without it you have no reins to pull back on when the horse veers off the beaten path. An agenda not only helps you keep on track, it tells the participants approximately how much needs to be accomplished and maybe even how long it will take. In fact I’ve worked with agendas where each item had a time limit next to it.

It also helps the minute recorder/secretary to keep accurate meeting minutes. A good secretary will even use the agenda to scribble short notes on the actual page, while writing out the bulk of the meeting on another piece of paper.

2. There are some benefits to getting the agenda out in lots of time.

• You are showing participants courtesy. They have a better idea of how much time it will take away from their schedule, hopefully.


• You have a chance to control the meeting before it starts by giving the guidelines. You also allow opportunity to add items to the agenda BEFORE the meeting. It is so unproductive to have a dozen agenda additions at the start, or during the meeting. You will lose control of the meeting before it gets off the ground.


• You also make it look good for yourself. Your participants think, “Wow! James is organized. I better get on my game too.”

3. This is crucial. I believe agendas need to show respect to the attendees. When you are calling a meeting, sending out an agenda, you are saying, “This is what we will talk about at the meeting and I, as the Chair, am committed to keeping us on track and respecting you and your time.

So the typical linear agenda may look like this:

Agenda
“Board” Meeting
Date, Time & Place

1. Call to Order

2. Reading of the past meeting minutes

3. Financial Report (if applicable)

4. Item 1: Presentation, discussion, voting, questions

5. Item 2: Same as above

6. Item 3, etc…

Next Meeting Time:

Meeting adjournment

Now you may wonder how you can have fun when you look at that agenda. Be creative. Laugh a little. Loosen up, especially if it’s going to be a long meeting.

Another possibly creative way to work an agenda is to use your computer to project the agenda onto the wall or screen. This keeps eyes forward and on the Chair and is also ‘environmentally friendly’, which is what a lot of people are moving towards.

(LB) As James indicated I am a proponent of using mind maps for agendas (and a bunch of other stuff). The visual is different and quickly catches people’s attention. So a mind map agenda would look like this:As you can see it is bright and easily followed. Normally I start at the top right side and work my way around in a clockwise direction. There is lots of space to take notes. In the beginning people may be a bit resistant to this graphic. Over time that changes. One of the beauties of this format is that you can project it and have someone make the notes right onto the map as decisions are made. It becomes a living record that can be quickly shared.

These are just a couple of the types of agendas for standard Board  meetings. They are also a good template for staff and committee meetings. As you can see, we had much to say about this issue and it looks like we will be doing Agendas part 2 next week.

 So stay tuned. Next week: Agendas – Part 2

Meeting Management - Agendas